Posted by Damien Sorresso (12.248.146.234) on June 30, 2002 at 15:52:33:
Episode III has a lot of ground to cover, and it will, no doubt, start on a low note.
Obi-Wan will find out that Anakin and Padme went under his nose and got themselves married. He'll confront Anakin about it, and Anakin will be forced to confess. Obi-Wan will be forced to report the activity to the Jedi Council, who will realize how unbelievably stupid it was to send a horny 19 year-old off to "bodyguard" an astonishingly beautiful young senator that he never shuts up about in an isolated part of an isolated world, where they'll be alone practically 90% of the time.
The Council will either expel Anakin or place him on probation with a demand that he divorce Padme. Anakin will get really, really pissed, and he will run to Palpatine for advice on what to do. This is where Palpatine's subtle ego-stroking will pay off. Palpatine will tell Anakin that the Council is simply afraid of his power, and they fear that his love for Padme will make him even stronger, so they're looking for any excuse they can to get rid of him. Anakin, being the hot-headed, easily manipulable character that he is, will agree. Palpatine will then tell him to just leave the Order and continue his training on his own, hinting that he may know someone who could help him out.
Anakin will angrily tell the Council off, tell them that they're all afraid of him, and that one day, he'll show them all who's da man. He'll then drop a "You can't fire me! I QUIT!" line and leave. Obi-Wan knows that Anakin has gone completely unstable, and he now fears for Padme. Obi-Wan races to Naboo to see Padme and tells her what happened. Padme is forced to accept the logic of the situation, and that she and Anakin should never have gotten married in the first place, but none of that matters now. She tells Obi-Wan that she is pregnant with Anakin's son, not knowing about the twin conception (even though their medical technology should be able to easily detect that she is carrying twins, but hey, it's a plot device). Obi-Wan sees this as a possible way to bring Anakin back from the brink of the Dark Side, and he intends to tell Anakin that he will be a father, and that he can't be a good one to his child if he continues down his current path.
Palpatine has arranged a meeting between Darth Sidious and Anakin, unwilling to completely divulge his secret until he knows for sure that Anakin is on-board. Sidious promises to train Anakin so that he'll have the power to defeat his oppressors in the Jedi Council and become the most powerful Jedi who's ever lived. Anakin is very open to these suggestions of power, and he at least agrees to think about it, if not immediately siding with Sidious. Sidious tells Anakin to trust his instincts, and to let rage flow through him. Only then would he be able to defeat his primary oppressor and opponent, Obi-Wan.
Anakin stages a confrontation between he and Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan breaks the news that Padme is pregnant, which floors Anakin, but imbued with rage and hatred, he thinks that Obi-Wan only wants to kill him and take his child to train him as a Jedi under the same, oppressive system he had to go through. Anakin won't stand for it. They duel, and Obi-Wan winds out on top by a hair, forced to send Anakin hurtling into a pit of lava or something, like he had to do with Darth Maul (who kicks ass, by the way). Anakin survives, unbeknownst to Obi-Wan, and he goes back to Palpatine to tell him what happened. Palpatine then reveals to him that he is Darth Sidious, and that now, the Jedi have shown their true colors and should be exterminated. Anakin agrees, and he gets the badass helmet/armor, with the Sith title Darth Vader.
Now, Palpatine begins thinking long-term again. Anakin has a child, and this child would be extremely strong in the Force, which means that he'd make an excellent servant to depose Vader, or he could bring him down. He decides to let Padme bear the child, so that he'll have a fallout plan in case something happens to Vader. He also arranges to have Padme killed, which will effectively destroy Vader's last link to his former life. Who does he hire to carry this plan out? None other than Boba Fett, who has become the galaxy's nastiest bounty hunter, by now, and he does not fail or subcontract shit out, like his dad.
By this time, the Jedi have put Padme under their protection. Obi-Wan is guarding her, and they find out she is to have twins, which makes her protection even more paramount. Obi-Wan knows that Anakin only knows about the son, so he gives Leia to Bail Organa on Alderaan, where she will be raised as his daughter, so Anakin will never suspect. Obi-Wan takes Luke and Padme under his protection. Something happens, and Padme winds up dead. Either she is killed by Boba Fett, or Vader hunts her down and kills her himself. Obi-Wan realizes what has happened to Anakin and what is going to happen to the galaxy, so he retreats to Tatooine with Luke and gives him to Owen and Beru Lars. Owen vehemently distrusts Obi-Wan and fears that he'll cause Luke to go down the path that Anakin did, so he wards Obi-Wan off as a crazy old wizard. Obi-Wan goes into hiding as a hermit on Tatooine, waiting for the day that he can start training young Luke.
While all this is going on, Palpatine is working his mojo. The Separatists are becoming an even greater threat, and he commissions the largest military buildup ever in the galaxy's history to counter the increasing threat of the Separatists. Before going into hiding, Obi-Wan is commissioned as a general in the Clone Wars, and the Jedi are called into service at the urging of Palpatine. Palpatine sends the Jedi into impossible engagements where he knows that the greatest number of them will be killed. But the Jedi, at the same time, must counter the threat that the Sith, now Darth Sidious and Darth Vader, are presenting. This stretches their resources even further, and Jedi are beginning to drop like flies.
The Separatists are successfully defeated in the best space battle sequence ever. Palpatine then gives a speech, formally announcing his intentions. He says that the Republic can no longer function as it should, and is now dead from corruption and greed. He appeals to the galaxy's need for security, and tells them that he will convert the weak Republic into an Empire to keep the galaxy unified and strong. He dispels any notions of a dictatorship by allowing the Senate to remain, but he makes it subtly clear that he has the last word. Palpatine also makes some excuse to begin hunting down the Jedi. How he'll do it, I'm not sure.